Virtual conferencing in the form of video conferencing has become widely available in the past decade. Video conferencing provides a convenient way for participants to “meet” without traveling to be physically together. In addition to saving time and cost associated with traveling, video conferencing is environmentally friendly, as it should help avoid unnecessary driving and flying. In spite of the above advantages, video conferencing is under-utilized today and people still travel distances for face-to-face meetings. This is because many people find video conferencing to be a poor substitute for face-to-face meetings.
One of the reasons video conferencing is unsatisfactory is the loss of attention information. Conference participants like knowing who is focusing attention on whom or what and if anyone is focusing attention on them, and lack of these information makes video conferencing impersonal, uncomfortable, and ineffective for many people. Moreover, absence of attention information can even lead to miscommunication. For example, in a video conference with multiple people, it is sometimes difficult to tell exactly whom the speaker is talking to. When the speaker asks, “Could you handle that?” at the end of a long job description, multiple people could assume that they are each being asked to handle the job because all of them assume that they are getting the attention of the speaker although the speaker may only focus attention on one of them. The possibility of this type of miscommunication leads people to avoid handling important communication via a video conference, forcing them to travel.